The flower that you hold in your hands was born today and already it is as old as you are. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

The flower that you hold in your hands was born today and already it is as old as you are. ~Antonio Porchia, Voces, 1943, translated from Spanish by W.S. Merwin

Sometimes I imagine how beautiful it would be to hold time in my hands.

To have absolute control over it, to be able to stop the moving hands feverishly working tirelessly to keep the world going. How beautiful it would be to be able to stop the ticking for an instant when we need to savor the sweetness of the present; to be able to wound back the hands when we need to correct or undo what was done in the past and to be able to fast forward it to peep into the future.

Thankfully, time is not within our control and better for us too, because this world would be chaotic if we were all to be in charge.

Imagine me wanting to turn back the hands of time same time someone else in far away Nottingham or Canada or India or some other place needs to fast forward it.

Now what got me wound up about time (this time)?

Just finished helping D1 with his Numeracy assignment when he brought out his Queen Primer to read. (Some of us never heard of 'Numeracy' as it was named differently in our time; arithmetic, anyone?)

I was about taking it from him so I could read to him and have him read after me when he started...

"He is up... Is he up?...."

"I am up... Am I up?...."

I did a double take in shock. Completely dumbfounded.

My baby is all grown up.

Where have I been?

When did he start reading and I didn't even have an inkling of what he was capable of now?

I was exhilarated and a little sad at the same time.

Don't we all want to enjoy and savor the joys of the moment while also peeping impatiently into the future, to a time when they would be all grown up?

Don't we all want them to be fully dependent on us and at the same time independent enough to wipe their own bum and flush the toilet when they are done?

Oh, how time flies.

Seems like yesterday when his beautiful little, pink, squeamish body was handed over to me and now, he could read!

Indeed the flower that I hold in my hand was born today and yet, before my very eyes, had sprouted, grown and bloomed.

Now I had prided myself on being a hands-on mum, (when I can pry myself away from work stuffs) who has a keen sense of observation. I notice the tiny spots, the nail marks from creche, mosquito bites, etc

But how many golden moments have I missed right under my nose while doing my busy runs?

Time to start implementing fully 'hands free sunday or monday or ...any chosen day within the week. 

No more golden hours slipping by, won't allow them anymore. Will take more time to savor the joys of the present, loosing myself no more in far off plans and places while fully seizing the moment and the precious gift freely bestowed on us..Time.

You must have been warned against letting the golden hours slip by; but some of them are golden only because we let them slip by. ~James Matthew Barrie 

(Above was first published June 26, 2012 on my second blog -Memoirs of a Workahomom. I was trying to merge the two fora into a single one for ease of management and I  decided to put this up again, because it is still so apt, even today- nearly 1 year after!)

Share your thoughts, please.